Energy balance and health in SENECA participants. Survey in Europe on Nutrition and the Elderly, a Concerted Action.
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Biomedical subjects
L C de Groot
Publications and source records attributed to L C de Groot.
Reduced physical activity and its association with obesity.
The energy cost of daily physical activity was derived for 30 Pima Indians ages 19-71 using simultaneous measurements of total daily expenditure and basal metabolic rate in the free-living situation. The body fat of the subjects ranged from 10 to 45%. Weight-adjusted indexes of physical activity correlated negatively with percent body fat, reinforcing the hypothesis that obesity occurs with a lower level of physical activity.
Adipose Tissue↗
Assessing diets of elderly people: problems and approaches.
This paper deals with the question of whether dietary assessment methods developed and validated for younger adults can be used in surveys for elderly people. From the literature it is clear that a decline in short-term memory with age makes the 24-h recall method particularly unreliable. Better results have been obtained with other methods, especially when a combination of methods is used and equipment is adapted for use by older people. However, validity of these methods when applied in older people is dependent on the group of elderly people under study and the type of information required for the purpose of the study. As an example, the validity of the adapted dietary-history method used in the Survey in Europe on Nutrition and the Elderly a Concerted Action (SENECA) is discussed. This method showed good agreement with the weighed record and with other evaluation criteria.
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Effect of lactation on resting metabolic rate and on diet- and work-induced thermogenesis.
Energy metabolism was measured in 24 women before pregnancy and during lactation (2 mo postpartum). Resting metabolic rate (RMR) increased by 0.17 +/- 0.38 kJ/min and postprandial metabolic rate (PPMR) showed a similar increase (0.17 +/- 0.45 kJ/min). Thus, the thermic effect of the meal (PPMR minus RMR) was not affected by lactation. Between subjects, the lactation-induced increase in RMR appeared to be positively related to body weight. During lactation gross metabolic rates during cycling (CMR) were slightly reduced and net metabolic rates during cycling (CMR minus RMR) tended to decrease by 0.6 kJ/min at all workloads; however, the decrease was statistically significant only at the lowest workload. Changes in metabolic rate during the recovery period after exercise were not significant, but resembled changes in RMR rather than changes in CMR. We conclude that no major changes in metabolic efficiency occurred during lactation.
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Energy balances of healthy Dutch women before and during pregnancy: limited scope for metabolic adaptations in pregnancy.
To investigate changes in energy metabolism during pregnancy, complete 8-d energy balances were measured before pregnancy and at 12, 23, and 34 wk gestation in 12 healthy Dutch women. While for each individual woman experimental diets were kept constant throughout the study with average intakes of 8.76 +/- 0.92 MJ/d (before pregnancy), 8.72 +/- 1.08 MJ/d (week 12), 8.85 +/- 0.93 MJ/d (week 23), and 8.72 +/- 1.12 MJ/d (week 34), neither the digestibility nor the metabolizability of the supplied diets showed significant changes from before pregnancy (92.8% and 88.6%, respectively) throughout pregnancy (92.7% and 88.2%, respectively). Twenty-four-hour energy expenditure (24-h EE) increased significantly from 8.63 +/- 0.80 MJ/d (before pregnancy) to 8.73 +/- 1.15, 9.08 +/- 1.08, and 9.94 +/- 0.94 MJ/d in weeks 12, 23, and 34 of gestation, to the extent predictable from changes in resting metabolic rate so that in an experimental setting with physical activity and energy intake standardized there seems little scope for other adaptive mechanisms.
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No changes during pregnancy in the net cost of cycling exercise.
OBJECTIVE: To investigate whether work efficiency improves during pregnancy. DESIGN: Longitudinal; energy expenditure measurements (ventilated hood system) before the onset of pregnancy and in weeks 13, 24 and 35 of gestation. SUBJECTS: Healthy Dutch women (n = 26), recruited with advertisements in local newspapers and posters displayed in public buildings. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Resting metabolic rate (RMR); metabolic rate during cycling at workloads of 30, 45, 60 and 75 W (CMRgross); post-cycling metabolic rate (PCMRgross); net energy costs of cycling (CMRnet = CMRgross - RMR); net recovery costs after cycling exercise (PCMRnet = PCMRgross - RMR). RESULTS: RMR, CMRgross and PCMRgross increased during pregnancy; under all conditions, metabolic rates were 0.9 kJ/min higher at 35 weeks gestation than before pregnancy (P < 0.05). CMRnet and PCMRnet showed no significant change during gestation. CONCLUSIONS: Changes in metabolic rate during cycling exercise suggest that pregnancy does not induce an improvement of work efficiency.
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Methodologic issues in the EURONUT SENECA study.
In 1988 a Europe-wide multicentre study on nutrition and health in the elderly (SENECA) was started to examine dietary patterns in the elderly in relation to lifestyle, social and economic conditions, and health and performance. This paper reviews the approaches taken in designing and developing the study, and describes the methodology used to gather comparative international data by standardized procedures.
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Nutrition and health of elderly people in Europe: the EURONUT-SENECA Study.
In 1988 EURONUT, the umbrella European Community (EC) Concerted Action on Nutrition and Health, initiated a major European multicenter study, named SENECA,* to study cross-cultural differences in nutritional issues and life-style factors affecting health and performance of elderly people in Europe. According to a strictly standardized methodology, 2,586 elderly subjects--born between 1913 and 1918--have been studied in 19 towns across Europe, using a mixed longitudinal design. Data regarding nutrient and food intakes, diet habits, diet awareness, nutritional status, health, and life-style factors were collected and are partially presented in this paper. There was considerable variability from site to site--even within countries--in dietary intake, in both quantity and composition; blood biochemistries; life-style factors; health; and performance. Implications of the observed wide variability will be studied longitudinally.
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How food-related industries can respond to the nutritional needs of the elderly: an European view.
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Life-style: physical activities and activities of daily living. Euronut SENECA investigators.
In 19 towns and cities across Europe, physical activity and activities of daily living were studied in 2586 elderly people born between 1913 and 1918. Data were obtained as part of a standardized questionnaire. Large variations in both levels of physical activity and activities of daily living existed among research towns and cities. Altogether, women spent more hours per day on physically active tasks than men, including more time on housework (2.6-3.9 h/day versus 0.7-2.3 h/day for men) and on leisuretime activities (2.0-4.2 h/day versus 0.9-2.3 h/day for men). According to 16 items of functioning, including both items of personal functioning and more complex tasks, functioning was rated as good in most of the elderly. In all centres good functioning was most prevalent in men, and in the younger elderly born in 1917 or 1918. In further cross-sectional analyses the relationship between physical activity, nutrition and other life-style factors, on the one hand, and anthropometry, health and performance, on the other hand, will be examined.
Activities of Daily Living↗
Description of survey towns and populations. Euronut SENECA investigators.
Some 2600 elderly people born between 1913 and 1918 have been enrolled in the Euronut SENECA study. In 12 European countries they were randomly selected from the resident populations of 19 'traditional' towns, mostly with a population size between 10,000 and 30,000 inhabitants. Site characteristics of these towns differ from mainly rural to urban and from lowland to mountainous with a range of temperate climates. In the rural areas work opportunities are primarily agricultural whereas in mixed rural/urban, suburban and urban areas most of the working population are engaged in industry, administration and commerce. The percentage of people over the age of 65 ranged from 8% to 22%. Medical and social facilities for the aged vary widely from site to site.
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Nutritional status: anthropometry. Euronut SENECA investigators.
In 19 towns and cities across Europe anthropometric data--body weight, height, skinfold thicknesses and circumferences--have been obtained from 2332 elderly subjects born between 1913 and 1918, according to a strictly standardized methodology. Large variations exist among research towns even within countries. For body weight, means ranged from 70.1 +/- 15.4 kg to 78.2 +/- 10.7 kg in men and from 56.8 +/- 8.1 to 71.4 +/- 11.4 kg in women. In the North European towns and cities both men and women were taller than their counterparts in the southern towns. Mean body mass index varied from 24.4 +/- 3.8 kg m-2 to 30.3 +/- 5.2 kg m-2 among men. In women the range of means was from 23.9 +/- 3.6 kg m-2 to 30.5 +/- 5.1 kg m-2. Triceps skinfold thicknesses suggest that females had more fat at subcutaneous sites than the males, and the waist-hip ratio was consistently lower in elderly women.
Age Factors↗
Energy metabolism of overweight women 1 mo and 1 y after an 8-wk slimming period.
Twenty-four hour energy expenditure (24EE) and spontaneous physical activity were measured in 13 overweight women before and at the end of an 8-wk slimming period. These measurements were repeated in 10 women 1 mo after the slimming period (1-mo follow-up) and in eight women 1 y after slimming (1-y follow-up). The weight loss achieved after 8 wk of slimming (8.7-9.9 kg) was maintained throughout the follow-up periods; 24EE decreased during slimming from 9572 +/- 703 (means +/- SD) to 8060 +/- 471 kJ/d and increased after refeeding to 8379 +/- 739 kJ/d after 1 mo and to 8285 +/- 454 kJ/d after 1 y. On the basis of body weight, energy requirement (approximately 126 kJ.kg-1.d-1) did not change throughout the slimming and follow-up programs. Spontaneous physical activity, which had been lowered during slimming, tended to increase afterwards. No changes in metabolic efficiency seemed to occur or persist.
Adaptation, Physiological↗
Adaptation of energy metabolism of overweight women to alternating and continuous low energy intake.
To investigate whether a slimming diet based on alternating (low with normal) energy intakes could counteract a decrease in energy requirement, 24-h energy expenditure (24EE), sleeping energy expenditure (sleeping EE), and physical activity were determined in a respiration chamber in 27 overweight women: before weight reduction and after 4 and 8 wk of slimming. Daily alternating and continuous slimming diets were supplied. Average weight losses over 8 wk of slimming were 6.9-9.0 kg. After 8 wk at low energy intake, 24EE had declined by 12-16% (from 2328 +/- 219 to 1987 +/- 204 kcal, mean +/- SD). Sleeping EE had declined by 7-13% (from 64 +/- 6 to 57 +/- 6 kcal/h). Measurements of physical activity indicated a reduction of spontaneous physical activity during slimming. Alternating low energy intake did not prevent 24EE from declining. The reduction in 24EE was determined by a decrease of body weight, dietary induced thermogenesis (in proportion to caloric restriction), and physical activity. There seems little reason to consider other adaptive mechanisms.
Adaptation, Physiological↗
Validity of the fatty acid composition of subcutaneous fat tissue microbiopsies as an estimate of the long-term average fatty acid composition of the diet of separate individuals.
The relationship between the fatty acid composition of subcutaneous adipose tissue and diet was estimated in 59 Dutch women aged 32-35 years. Food consumption was estimated by taking the means of nineteen 24-hour recalls administered over a period of two and a half years, August 1981-December 1983. Highly significant correlations were found between linoleic acid content of fat tissue and diet (r = 0.70) and also between the linoleic acid-to-saturated fatty acid (linoleic/S) ratio of fat tissue and diet (r = 0.62). This confirms the hypothesis that on an individual level the fatty acid composition of the adipose tissue is a valid index for the habitual dietary fatty acid composition of free-living adults. When using one 24-hour recall instead of the average of 19 recalls, the correlation coefficient between the linoleic/S ratio of the diet and that of the adipose tissue was substantially decreased. This demonstrates the weakening effect of the large day-to-day variation in within-person intake on the correlation between a short-term assessment of the nutrient intake of an individual and a biochemical indicator of long-term nutritional status.
Adipose Tissue↗
Associations of moderate and severe overweight with self-reported illness and medical care in Dutch adults.
Data on height, weight, illness, medical care consumption, and demographic variables for 19,126 Dutch adults aged 20 years or older were obtained from three annual Health Interview Surveys. Data on severely overweight (Body Mass Index 30.0-40.0 kg/m2) and moderately overweight (BMI 25.0-29.9 kg/m2) subjects were compared with those on non-overweight persons (BMI 20.0-24.9 kg/m2), taking into account effects of sex, age, and educational level. In men, severe overweight was associated with hypertension, especially in men under 50 years of age. In women, severe overweight was associated with hypertension, diabetes, varicose veins, asthma/bronchitis, and hemorrhoids. Increased utilization of medical care and medications were also associated with severe overweight. For moderately overweight subjects, these associations were less clear or absent.
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SENECA's accomplishments and challenges.
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